Fire extinguishing apparatus



July 5, 1932. G. w. BURKE, J

FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Filed May 20.1919 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 5, 1932. v epw. BURKE, JR 1,366,008

FIRE EXTINGUISHING' APPARATUS Filed May 20. 1919 5 sneefcs-snee't 2 'Jul 5, 1932.

G. w. BURKE, JR

FIR-E EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS 1 Filed May 20. 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inven or Patented July 5, 1932 Mrs!) STATES GEORGE W. BURKE, JR., 013 DAYTQN, OHIO FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Application filed May 20,

This invention is means carried by a flying .lachine, such as an airplane, to extinguish fire occurring thereon, while the device is not solely restricted to this use, and it may a be applied to other'vehicles', such as motor boats, motor cars, or wherever such a system can be used.

An important object of the invention is to provide a fire extinguishing apparatus or In system, so installed or distributed upon-the airplane, or parts thereof, that a fire starting from a point remote from the operator, may be readily extinguished or brought under control.- A further object of the invention isto provide means for discharging the fire extinguishing material from the forward part of the machine, whereby it will be carried rear- ,wardly by the currents of air passing about- 20' the machine, such currents of air creating a draft and thus serving to supply the fire extinguishing material over the various parts of the machine. I

A further object of the invention is to provide means for discharging the fire extinguishing material at the leading edge of the plane or planes of the airplane, such material being thereby applied to the upper or lower surfaces thereof. or both, such means also serving as a leading edge for the plane.

A furtherobject of the invention is to pro-'- vide means located adjacent the engine compartment of the airplane whereby the pilot is able toobserve a fire starting therein. A further object of the invention is to provide means, located in the fuselage of the airplane, in conjunction with one of the conduits, to sprinkle the interior thereof.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means of the above mentioned character, which may be manually or automatically set into action. Numerous accidents have occurred in recent years both in actual aerial conflict and in practice flight by a fire originating either from inflammable bullets or internal engine trouble. This apparatus to be hereinafter described, serves to provide means to control a fire in itsincipiency and thus practically eliminate the fire hazard.

With these-and other objects in View, the introl system and its associated parts.

1919. Serial No. 298,515.

any invention and illustrating the claims ap- 05 pended to this specification.

Figure 4. is a rear elevation of the main sprinkler.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view of the con- Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view of the' automatic control of the fire extinguishing system.

Figure 7 is an enlarged top plan view somewhat similar to Figure 3.

Figure 8 is a view in cross section showing the one plane of the airplane.

' Figure 9 is a detail view of the nozzle that is used in the fuselage of the airplane;

Referring to the drawings, my invention 80 has been illustrated in a biplane, in which 1 indicates the upper plane. and 2 the lower plane, which are provided with a driving motor, a propeller and controlling mechanism of conventional form. As the special design or construction of these elements forms no part of my invention, they will not be describedwith particularity.

Arranged in the fuselage 3 of the airplane,

as best shown in Figure 3 and in the enlarged view of'Figure 7, is the main structure of my improved iire extinguishing apparatus. On

an instrument board 4 areplaced a series of staggered operating keys or levers 5, 6, 7 8 and 9 which control the passage of the fire extinguishing material from the main supply tank 10 through the conduits or a ertured pipes 5, 6, 7", 8 and 9. The conduit 5 embodies a spiral length of pipe structure that I leads from an intermediate point inthe in terior of the fuselage and terminates at a point adjacent the rear end thereof. The conduit 6' carries the material from the main tank 10 to a. forwardly located Sprinkler 11 the latter being shown to advantage in Figure 4. This sprinkler 11 comprises a screen of tubes 12 so designed that the onrushingair will drive the fire extinguishing material over the engine and vulnerable parts thereof. This distribution of the material is effected by the rapid passage of the plane in flight, which will cause a draft to be created and thereby sprinkle the engine compartment of Ehe fuselage and thus serve to extinguish the It will be here noted that fusible plugs 13 and 14 are provided in the conduit 6, which plugs provide for an automatic operation of the fire extinguishing system to be effected. For instance, if the pilot of the airplane is busily engrossed and does not notice thestarting of a conflagration then the heat generated by the fire starting in the engine compartment of the airplane, will after a certain temperaslits placed at fixed intervals; The disposition of the slits, when the contents of the conduits 7 and 8 reach the air current, forces the contents thereof to the plane surface. As advantageously shown in Figure 8, the air current contacting with the material of the conduit 7 ',.will change the .action of the ma-.

terial to a horizontal flow and will thus connect the individual streams of fire extin- "guishing material and thereby cause a solid sheet of flowing mass. The conduit 9', which conveys the fire extinguishing material from a the main compartment 10 along the interior portion of the fuselage, will carry the same to a point adjacent the rear rudder or to an appropriate point 'whichmay be designated or desired.

In Figures 3 ,and7-there is shown a fire I Y wall or partition 16, that separates the pilot ifrom the forward compartment of the airplane, and which is a source of protection for the operator from the flames originating in the engine compartment. In this fire partition 16 there is mounted a window 17 preferably made of isinglass, which enables the pilot to observe the interior of the engine compartment and at'once discover the startingof afire. He is thereby enabled to start the .fire extinguishing system or apparatus by manual operation, should he prefer to a t before the automatic device performs its function.

This in substance describes the fire extinguishing system or apparatus with its various conduits that lead from the main tank 10 to the particular parts of the airplane desired to be sprinkled.

And it can be furtherseen that there is herein described and illustrated mechanism for controlling five separate points at which the fire may originate and by means of the novel structure embodied herein a fire starting at any ofthese separate points may be immediately placed under control by the application of the extinguishing material at the particular point of conflagration.

In Figure 5 there is diagrammatically shown the, operation of the system control. Attached to the instrument board 4 is a bell crank lever 17 and also penetrating the board is a connecting rod 18, while running from this point a second bell crank lever 19 and second connecting rod 20, carries onthe communication to a third bell crank lever 21, which in turn communicates by means of a third'connecting rod 22 with a valve lever 23. It will be noted that the bell crank lever 17 is brought into action by a downward pressure of the hand. This operation in turn 'actuates the rod 18 and also the lever 19 which is connected to the rod 20, the movement being carried from this point to lever 21 and nected, and therebybringing spring- 25 into play. It will also be observed that when the bellcrank lever 17 is moved by hand that 9. lug 27, attached to the instrument board 4, 1s owered into a groove 28 thus maintaining the desired position of lever 17 and thereby holding a valve 29 open. I Either the manual orautomatic action of the control system just described will allow the flow of the fire extinguishing material through the desired conduit 30.

Referring to the diagrammatic view of Figure 6, a pump 31 is shown connected to anauxiliary tank 10' and a main tank 10 by means of tubes 34 and 35, respectively. A slide valve 36, the function of which will be hereinafter described is provided with ports 37 and 38, while a bell crank lever 39 is associated with an operating arm' 40 having an extension 41. The arm 40, which is attached to a float 42 serves as an operating element ployed to allow only the passage of the fluid from the auxiliary "tank 10 tothe main tank 10. An outlet 44 is also provided and which serves a function of allowing the passage of the fire extinguishing material to the various conduits 5', 6, 7, 8' and 9. In this automatic control of'the fire extinguishing sys- 'teln as shown here, it is to be noted that pump 31 is employed to keep thecontent-s ofthe system under approximately one hundred pounds pressure. This pressure is exerted throughtubes 34 and 35, which in turn are interrupted by a slide valve 36. When the main tank 10 is full the float 42 is at the top of the tank and will thus bring the arm into play upon lever'39, which in turn pulls the slide valve 36 in the right hand direction and thereby allowslport 38 to serve as a means of passage to connect between pump 31 and the main tank 10. As the contents of' tank 10 diminishes the arm 40 lowers and causes its extension 41 to contact with the lever 39. This in turn will produce an opposite action to the slide valve, namely toward the left, and thus port 37 is so disposed that the pump 31 will now be connected with auxiliary tank 10. A float 46 is used to indicate the amount of liquid contained in tank 10, the amount being recorded by means of the connecting device 47, upon which is placed a rack bar 48 provided with teeth on one side thereof. These teeth mesh with a wheel 49 and bymeans of a small geared section on the wheel 49 a second shaft 50 is indicating device 51, which is placed upOn the instrument board 4 of the airplaneQ An inlet valve 45 is employed for refilling the auxiliary tank 10,- while at a lower point of this tank a one way valve 44' is employed to prevent the pressure from pump 31 escaping when the system is in action.

A nozzle 52 is provided as shown in Figure 9. which is used in the fuselage of the airplane for the purpose of spreading the material in a circular or cone fan shape in the interior of the fuselage where the air stream can not reach the liquid to cause a spreading action. The parts of this spray nozzle as shown in Figure 9 may be best described as follows. The main cylinder 52 of the nozzle 52, connected to the system or apparatus, which is not shown in this figure, contains an interference structure 53, which is cone shaped at 54 and is of a hollow cube configuration at, the top thereof. A key 55 is composed of a cube shaped section at its lower end and is inserted in a recess of the cone shaped portion 54 of the interference structure 53, and is provided at its head portion with a knurled cylinder 55. This structure is so designed, that when the key 55 is in place to operate a shaft 53 by means of screw threads 56, there will thus result in a raising or' lowering of thecone shaped portion 54, and as it is in turn raised, the angle of the spray is diminished, and in turn lowered, the angle of the spray is increased. Thus it will be noted that by the provision of this nozzle in conjunction with the conduit 9' it will be possible by a fan shaped spreading-of the fire extinguishing material to sprinkle the desired points in the interior of the fuselage.

It will be evident that I have herein provided a system or apparatus used for distributing a fire extinguishing material which can not only be operated manually but also automatically, and which'hasthe novel feature forth which is simple of construction and de-- signed to carry out the objects of the invention in-a reliable and efficient manner. It will, of course, be understood that while the construction disclosed is preferred, changes for and within the scope of the appended claims may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

I claim v -1. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with the plane of an airplane, of means secured to said plane to discharge a fire extinguishing material upon the same near its leading edge, whereby the rush of air due to the passage of the airplane through the air will carry said fire extinguishing material over said plane, and means to supply a fire extinguishing material to said first mentioned means.

2. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with the plane of an airplane, of an apertured pipe secured to the leading edge of the plane, and means to supply a' fire extinguishing material to the apertured pipe.

3. The combination with an airplane, of a airplane to discover a fire in said compart 

